Agent Elena Giovinazzo and author Jason Reynolds are teaming up to found Heirloom Literary & Media, a new literary agency.
Heirloom Literary & Media is still in its “very early stages,” Giovinazzo told PW, but she hopes to take her and Reynolds’s “decade of shared experience and apply that to existing and new clients and do things a little bit differently.” Heirloom will be opening its doors to a variety of writers across ages and formats, ranging from children’s, middle grade, YA, graphic novels, as well as adult books and nonfiction.
“We want to find incredible creators and help them grow their careers,” Giovinazzo said. “It’s that, but our way.”
On his vision for Heirloom, Reynolds said, “I want to bring different ideas and different minds and creative disciplines into this melting pot to move things.”
Giovinazzo, a former VP and senior agent at Pippin Properties, spent 13 years at the agency, and said she “felt ready for a new challenge.” She will take on the role of agent, managing the everyday tasks of working with authors, including previous clients such as Zoey Abbott, Katherine Applegate, Drew Brockington, Beth Ferry, Jason Griffin, Amber McBride, Jonathan Stutzman and Heather Fox, and Ibi Zoboi, to name a few.
Reynolds will be acting in a mentorship role, offering his perspective as an author who has been through the publishing process several times over.
“I’m always around younger writers who are coming up, and to know that there’s a different kind of possibility, a different kind of framework to work within, that’s interesting,” Reynolds said.
In the pair’s evolution from agent and client to co-founders of a business, the trust built into their longstanding relationship is what has allowed them to branch off into this new venture. “I think the way that we trust each other is our bread and butter,” Reynolds said—“my trust in our ability to do the gig, my trust in her work ethic.”
Transforming an agent-author relationship into an agency is a unique take on agenting, one that opens the possibility for “rejiggering things” in the publishing hierarchy. “It’s always nice to break the ground,” Reynolds said. “The interesting thing will be to see if people follow suit.”
In terms of what comes next and whom Heirloom hopes to collaborate with, the vision is clear.
“We want to work with people who want to work just as hard as we always have,” Giovinazzo said. “If you’re going to be writing or illustrating at the top of your game, that’s the kind of people we want to be in business with.”
